GDP shrinks at 1.0% annualized rate in Jan.-March

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Okage Yokocho street in Ise, Mie Prefecture, appears nearly deserted in February due to the government’s quasi-emergency priority measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. The street, near the Ise Grand Shrines, was often packed with domestic and international visitors before the outbreak of COVID-19.

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japan’s gross domestic product in January-March shrank 0.2 percent from the previous quarter in price-adjusted real terms for an annualized decline of 1.0 percent, the Cabinet Office said in a preliminary report Wednesday.

Personal consumption was nearly flat compared with the final three months of 2021, while corporate capital spending rose 0.5 percent.

In nominal terms, the country’s GDP rose 0.1 percent for an annualized increase of 0.4 percent.

In fiscal 2021, which ended last March, Japan’s GDP grew 2.1 percent from the previous year in real terms and 1.1 percent in nominal terms.